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Sanctaphrax
Sanctaphrax is the home of the Edge's scholars and academics. It is a giant floating rock, that began growing in the Stone Gardens and continued growing larger and larger. It was eventually harvested, and the great city of Sanctaphrax was built on top of it. Old Sanctaphrax See main page: Old Sanctaphrax Old Sanctaphrax is around in the First Age of Flight, in the Quint and Twig trilogies. It is the seat of learning in the Edge. The Most High Academe presides over the city, and the schools are devoted to Sky-Scholar learnings, as the Earth-Scholars were cast out in the "Great Purge", when the Sky-Scholars converted the Great Laboratory into a treasury chamber for Stormphrax. There are a total of 222 schools in Sanctaphrax: the seven great schools, the fourteen minor academies, the two hundred "viaduct" schoools, and the Fountain House. The Seven Schools Sanctaphrax consists of seven major schools, each dedicated the knowledge of different aspects of the sky. *School of Light and Darkness *Knights' Academy *College of Cloud *Academy of Wind *College of Rain *School of Mist *Institute of Ice and Snow The 14 Minor Academies Besides the seven most important schools, Sanctaphrax has 14 smaller institutions. *Academy of Balm *Academy of Breeze *Academy of Dawn *Academy of Drizzle *Academy of Dusk *Academy of Fog *Academy of Gloom *Academy of Gust *Academy of Hailstones *Academy of Lightning *Academy of Sleet *Academy of Squall *Academy of Thunder *Academy of Whirlwind The 200 "Viaduct" Schools Two hundred additional schools are mounted along the Central Viaduct of Sanctaphrax, accessible from the top of the structure. Extremely small and with practically no impact on Sanctaphrax politics, the Viaduct Schools are devoted to a broad host of subjects not studied in the larger institutions. Academics from these schools wear distinctive robes of a pale "Viaduct" blue. Known "Viaduct" Schools: *School of Colour and Light Studies *School of Potions and Poisons Other places in Sanctaphrax *The Great Hall *The Loftus Observatory *The Fountain House *The East Landing *The West Landing *The Palace of Shadows *The Great Library *The Sanctaphrax Tunnel *The Great Library Tunnel *The Great West Tunnel *The Great Laboratory *The Ancient Laboratory *The Treasury Chamber *The Anchor Chain History Early history Sanctaphrax was founded hundreds of years before the Quint triolgy, when a flight rock growing in The Stone Gardens became far larger than any before. The rock was one of the three Ancient Ones, the oldest living beings on the Edge; the rock being of the Earth, the Caterbird being of the Air, and the Great Clam being of the Water. The rock was tied to the center of Undertown by the Great Anchor Chain, and the city was soon built upon it. It became a place of learning, and home to hundreds of librarians and professors, acolytes and all manner of academics. They were then split into Sky-Scholars, who studied the weather and clouds, and Earth-Scholars, who categorized and researched the flora and fauna of the Deepwoods in the Great Library of Sanctaphrax. An academic named Quode Quanx-Querix founded a school named the Knights' Academy, where the protectors of Sanctaphrax were trained. In early days of Sanctaphrax, a group of ancient scholars attempted to synthesize life in the Ancient Laboratory, built deep in the Stonecomb. They sucked a glister into the laboratory during a thunderstorm and channeled a bolt of lightning straight into it. The glister became a monstrous creature that sucked the very life force from the unfortunate scholars. Quode Quanx-Querix led his Knights Academic and Academics-at-Arms down into the tunnels to confront the rogue glister. They suffered great losses, but eventually trapped the creature deep in the maze of tunnels. Even after this, glisters occasionally caused problems. In early Sanctaphrax, many buildings were decorated with Cliff-Marble. At night this material attracted the tiny, glowing creatures. However, the danger they posed was not realized until the Academy of Wind was completely reconstructed from cliff-marble. The school attracted so many glisters that the academics within were driven mad and eventually slaughtered each other. In response, every school except for the Knights' Academy had their cliff-marble removed. The inhabitants of Sanctaphrax lived in harmony until a problem arose up - the floating rock was still growing, and becoming ever more buoyant as it expanded. The scholars began to search despairingly through generations of research for a solution to the problem. The Sky-Scholars eventually discovered that they could anchor down the floating rock by placing Stormphrax in the center. This plan was contested by the Earth-Scholars, who insisted that the real solution was to study the properties of the rock itself. However, the Sky-Scholars soon took over the city, and imposed their will with the help of a band of Flat-Head Goblins who became known as the Treasury Guard. The Sky-Scholars took over the Great Laboratory and converted it into the Treasury Chamber. After this, stormchasing became the chief task of Knights Academic, who would be called upon to stormchase whenever a great storm passed. Other schools were founded too, and over the years ever taller and grander towers were constructed, such as the great mistsifting towers of the School of Mist. A few centuries later sky-scholars steadily became more and more influential. Many arrogantly believed that sky-scholarship alone was relevant, and that earth-scholarship threatened the entire city. These individuals soon became so powerful and influential that waves of Earth-Scholar purges soon began. Treasury Day became a celebration of the downfall of the earth-scholars. The Palace of Shadows and its curator, a spindlebug named Tweezel, were abandoned along with the other buildings of the earth-scholarship. A time of peace followed, albeit with a great many plots, feuds and much faction fighting between rival academies and schools, until Linius Pallitax began his research. Mid-history Linius Pallitax was the Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax, and a friend of one of the greatest Sky Pirate captains in history, Wind Jackal. In The Curse of the Gloamglozer, Linius wanted to revive the great library and return earth studies to Sanctaphrax, but he became distracted by a desire to recreate the experiments of the First Scholars. He went into the Stonecomb and rediscovered the ancient laboratory, where he ended up creating a Gloamglozer. His daughter Maris, along with Wind Jackal's son, Quint, managed to rescue Linius, but released the Curse of the Gloamglozer upon the Edge. Unfortunately, Linius’ home, the Palace of Shadows, was burned down as the Gloamglozer made its escape. Linius died soon after the fire. In The Winter Knights, Quint joined the Knights' Academy, along with Vil Spatweed a knife-grinder from Undertown who soon changed his name to Vilnix Pompolnius, and excelled to the rank of an upper hall squire. Meanwhile, Sanctaphrax was covered in blizzards, as a sick Cloudeater in open sky was belching them out. When flight rocks are cooled, they become increasingly buoyant, and the Sanctaphrax rock began to pull on the great anchor chain. Huge furnaces were pulled up and down the side of the Sanctaphrax rock to try and warm it up, and the hall master of High Cloud, Hax Vostillix, ordered stormchasing voyages frequently. Many brave knights died as their ship’s flight rocks cooled, sending them hurtling upwards. The death toll soared until Quint and his friends sailed a ship out to open sky and cured the Cloudeater ending the blizzards. Whilst they were away, the gatekeeper guards of Sanctaphrax rebelled and would have wiped out all of the squires and Knights if the treasury guard had not reinforced the defenders. Vilnix murdered Hax Vostillix for revenge, and could not be proved guilty; however, he was banished from the Knights Academy for visiting the school of potions and poisons. Not long after this, Sanctaphrax came perilously close to disaster. All they knew of this at the time was that the Leagues of Flight under Imbix Hoth, the ruthless right-hand man of Leaguesmaster Ruptus Pentephraxis, had offered to pay for every flight rock harvested that year. This was considered more dignified than the alternative of haggling. Imbix Hoth also commissioned the Academics to create a rock larger than any that had ever existed and paid a monumental amount for it. The Leagues were building up their fleet for a purge of Sky Piracy. However, once the Pirates were destroyed and the remainder of the fleet under his control, Pentephraxis plotted to launch an attack on Sanctaphrax itself. Had he not perished in the Clash of the Sky Galleons when his monstrous flagship Bringer of Doom plummeted into the Deepwoods, the Academics would have been slaughtered. Vilnix was offered a place as a raintaster; where he stole some Stormphrax, and ground it down to make Phraxdust, a material with the amazing property of purifying water. However, when he tried to make more, an explosion destroyed the raintasters tower, nearly killing him. After his recovery, he rushed to the Knights Academy where Quint was about to be sent stormchasing. He interrupted the ceremony, and impressed the crowds with his Phraxdust. He then built up an argument against the twin Most High Academes, the professors of Light and Darkness, and took their place at the top of the hierarchy. Many years later Sanctaphrax became too buoyant again, so Vilnix had weights and extra chains added to try and keep Sanctaphrax down. The Undertown factories and foundries worked overtime and pumped out waste into the river Edgewater, and Vilnix had to use Phraxdust to purify the water. This vicious circle would have continued, but Vilnix still didn’t know how he had made the Phraxdust. Whenever anyone tried to grind Stormphrax, it exploded, almost always resulting in death. The crisis got worse until Twig, Quint’s son, returned from a stormchasing voyage with more Stormphrax. Equilibrium returned, and Vilnix was parted from his status and assassinated minutes later. The Professor of Darkness returned to his position as Most High Academe of Sanctaphrax, but unfortunately the Professor of light had died on Twig’s Stormchasing voyage. Twig was knighted as Arbornius Vergenix, and left Sanctaphrax to become a sky pirate like his ancestors. The destruction of Sanctaphrax Every few thousand years, the Edgewater River dried up and the Mother Storm would descend upon Riverrise, The legendary source of the river, and would rejuvenate its waters at dawn. The previous time the mother storm came to the Edge, its path had been clear. But now, Sanctaphrax was in its way. The Mother Storm was preceded by many bizarre changes in the weather. These included mist which inflamed tempers and hailstones as large as boulders which brought inexplicable despair. These brought the hitherto obscure School of Psycho-Climatic Studies into prominence until the Storm arrived. Twig returned from his voyage into open sky with no memory of what his father had told him there. However, when he journeyed to Riverrise his memory was jogged, and he remembered the impending disaster and realized the solution. The great anchor chain had to be cut, allowing Sanctaphrax to fly away. If it wasn’t cut, the mother storm would waste its energy destroying Sanctaphrax, and would not get to Riverrise. The drought would wipe out all life on the Edge. When Twig and his apprentice, Cowlquape returned. Sanctaphrax (already devastated by the freak weather conditions) was on the very edge of the Mother Storm. Twig had sent word ahead to evacuate Sanctaphrax, although a few of the old professors stayed on it. The professor of darkness could not allow Twig to destroy the city, so he shoved him aside. Twig yelled for Cowlquape to remove the pin that held Sanctaphrax in place, and he did. The Professor of darkness begged Cowlquape to stop, and just before the pin gave, he thrust the great seal of office into Cowlquape’s hand. The chain then unwound and Sanctaphrax flew off, with the Professor of Darkness hanging on to the end of the chain. Distant Future Hundreds of years later during the Third Age of Flight Nate Quarter and his comrades discover that the great floating city has returned, blown back from Open Sky by the turbulent storms that prevail there. The band are astonished to see that although the city was lost all those centuries, it's condition is still pristine and its Academics still living, the same ones it took with it when released. Throughout the book, mysterious serene figures clothed in the robes of the old Academics, have been leading the poor and desperate towards a "Shining City of Spires" at the end of the world. Nate and his friends realise Sanctaphrax is this so-called haven but are suspiscious of the unexplained perfection, even moreso when the Professor recognizes the leader as the long dead Linius Pallitax. Splitting from the group, he ventures to the Great Library and is reunited with his long-lost brother (the reason the group came to the Edge was to look for him) who takes him down into the Great Laboratory and shows it has recently been used again for its original awful purpose; to create Gloamglozers. Up in the city the poor Deepwooders and Nate's group are horrified when all the "Academics" suddenly morph into these terrible creatures and gloatingly begin to feast on their fear whilst chasing them ever closer to the edge of the rock and certain death. Meanwhile Nate comes face to face with "Linius" who reveals himself to be the original Gloamglozer mockingly assuming the form of the one that gave it life. The beast is ecstatic to learn Nate is Quint's, the one that scarred it and thwarted its murdering of Linius, descendant and is about to murder him when Quint, Twig and Rook (the Immortals) return from the Mother Storm as echoes of their youth. Quint plucks out the red glister from the heart of the Gloamglozer and Twig and Rook destroy the rest; the nightmare that plagued the Edge for hundreds of years is gone at last. The Immortals explain to Nate that the unnatural life the Gloamglozer possessed caused the Stonesickness that put an end to the First Age of Flight and now with it gone the Edge can begin to heal itself. A cleansing rain of Riverrise water begins to fall as the Immortals fade into glisters as their life-cycles can finally begin themselves again. The Floating Rock and the Stone Gardens as well as the rest of the Edge is cured of Stonesickness and the Deepwooders lured there by the Gloamglozer decide to stay and live there. New Sanctaphrax See main page: New Sanctaphrax New Sanctaphrax is created in the Second Age of Flight, in the Rook trilogy. The Tower of Night is built upon it, and, after the rock is grounded by Stone Sickness, it is supported by a maze of wooden pillars, the Sanctaphrax Forest. Vox Verlix usurps the title of Most High Academe of New Sanctaphrax from Cowlquape Pentephraxis, but he is effectively overthrown by a sect of Knights Academic known as the Guardians of Night. The Most High Guardian, Orbix Xaxis, rules over the Tower of Knight until his death in the sixth book, Vox. Category:Places